Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-23-Speech-5-023"
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"en.19990723.3.5-023"2
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"(FR) Madam President, unlike the previous speakers, who were, it has to be said, all British – well, well, what a surprise! – I would like to protest against the Commission"s decision, which I find quite astounding, to penalise the French Football Federation for so-called discrimination in the sale of tickets during the last football World Cup. Commissioner Kinnock pointed out, and rightly so, that this has been the accepted practice in previous World Cups.
And why is this an accepted practice, ladies and gentlemen? Well, it is quite simply that a World Cup like that is organised by a country, and paid for by the tax-payers of that country. Given these conditions, it is felt to be courteous and good practice to allocate a slightly larger quota to that country"s citizens. When a company floats shares for example, increases its capital, and then sells the shares, nobody says that it is illegal if it reserves a quota for its own employees, who are a vital component of the company"s lifeblood. This quota is, of course, a form of discrimination and yet, I feel it is a legitimate one. I, therefore, think that the Commission was wrong to apply Article 82 of the Treaty because there was no real abusive exploitation of power, only a quite legitimate and understandable use of a set of circumstances which were highly unusual from a financial point of view.
However, Madam President, I would like to move on, because this is, when all is said and done, a relatively minor matter which is of no great consequence to life in our country. There are other more serious matters in which the Commission has been guided by the same extremist mind set which may bring about very serious imbalances in our country"s economy and also in its employment figures.
I am thinking in particular of the sanction imposed, yet again on France, for having allowed certain textile companies to reduce their national insurance contributions at a time when they were taking on new staff in an international climate which, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, is extremely tough, largely because of the international agreements negotiated by the Commission itself. So these businesses are now going to have to repay the social grants which they were given because of an extremist, narrow-minded and almost plain stupid way of seeing things. It is an absolute scandal. I think that, in future, this Parliament should set an example with a more considered vision, one which is more fair and impartial towards competition.
(Applause)"@en1
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